A
galvanizing theme of Harari’s writing is that humans are driven by shared,
frequently unacknowledged fictions. Many of these fictions, he rightly points
out, underlie the concepts that organize society, such as the value of the US
dollar or the authority of nation states. In critiquing the current vogue topic
of “fake news,” Harari observes that this is nothing new, but has been around
for millennia in the form of organized religion.

However,
though apparently unwittingly, Harari himself perpetuates a set of unacknowledged
fictions that he relies on as foundations for his own version of reality. Given
his enormous sway as a public intellectual, this risks causing considerable
harm. Like the traditional religious dogmas that he mocks, his own implicit stories
wield great influence over the global power elite as long as they remain
unacknowledged.

Fiction #1: nature is a machine.

One
of Harari’s most striking prophecies is that artificial intelligence will come
to replace even the most creative human endeavors, and ultimately be capable of
controlling every aspect of human cognition. The underlying rationale for his prediction
is that human consciousness -including emotions, intuitions, and feelings - is
nothing more than a series of algorithms, which could all theoretically be
deciphered and predicted by a computer program. Our feelings, he tells us, are merely
“biochemical mechanisms” resulting from “billions of neurons calculating” based
on algorithms honed by evolution.

The
idea that humans - and indeed all of nature - can be understood as very
complicated machines is in fact a uniquely European
cultural myth that arose in the 17th century and has since taken
hold of the popular imagination. In the heady days of the Scientific
Revolution, Descartes declared he saw no difference “between the machines made
by craftsmen and the various bodies that nature alone composes.” The preferred
machine metaphor is now the computer, with Richard Dawkins (apparently
influencing Harari) writing that “life is just bytes and bytes and bytes of
digital information,” but the idea remains the same - everything in nature can
ultimately be reduced to its component parts and understood accordingly.

This
myth, however attractive it might be to our technology-driven age, is as fictional
as the theory that God created the universe in six days. Biologists point out
principles intrinsic to life that categorically differentiate it from even the
most complicated machine. Living organisms cannot be split, like a computer,
between hardware and software. A neuron’s biophysical makeup is intrinsically
linked to its behavior: the information it transmits doesn’t exist separately
from its material construction. As prominent neuroscientist Antonio Damasio states
in The
Strange Order of Things, Harari’s assumptions are “not scientifically
sound” and his conclusions are “certainly wrong.”

The
dangers of this fiction arise when others base their actions on this flawed
foundation. Believing that nature is a machine inspires a hubristic arrogance
that technology can solve all humanity’s problems. Molecular biologists promote
genetic engineering to enhance food production, while others advocate
geo-engineering as a solution to climate breakdown - strategies fraught with the
risk of massive unintended consequences. Recognizing that natural processes,
from the human mind to the entire global ecosystem, are complex, nonlinear, and
inherently unpredictable, is a necessary first step in crafting truly systemic
solutions to the existential crises facing our civilization.

Fiction #2:
“there is no alternative.”

When
Margaret Thatcher teamed up with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s to impose the free-market,
corporate-driven doctrine of neoliberalism on the world, she famously used the
slogan “There Is No Alternative” to argue that the other two great ideologies
of the twentieth century - fascism and communism - had failed, leaving her
brand of unrestrained market capitalism as the only meaningful choice.

Astonishingly,
three decades later, Harari echoes her caricatured version of history,
declaring how, after the collapse of communism, only “the liberal story
remained.” The current crisis, as Harari sees it, is that “liberalism has no
obvious answers to the biggest problems we face.” We now need to “craft a
completely new story,” he avers, to respond to the turmoil of modern times.

Sadly,
Harari seems to have missed the abundant, effervescent broth of inspiring
visions for a flourishing future developed over decades by progressive thinkers
across the globe. He appears to be entirely ignorant of the new foundations for
economics proffered by pioneering thinkers such as Kate
Raworth; the exciting new principles for a life-affirming future within the
framework of an Ecological
Civilization; the stirring moral foundation established by the Earth
Charter and endorsed by over 6,000 organizations worldwide; in addition to
countless other variations of the “new story” that Harari laments is missing. It’s
a story of hope that celebrates our shared humanity and emphasizes our deep
connection with a living earth.

The
problem is not, as Harari argues, that we are “left without any story.” It is,
rather, that the
world’s mass media is dominated by the same overpowering transnational
corporations that maintain a stranglehold over virtually all other aspects of
global activity, and choose not to give a platform to the stories that undermine
the Thatcherian myth that neoliberalism is still the only game in town.

Harari
is well positioned to apprise mainstream thinkers of the hopeful possibilities
on offer. In doing so, he would have the opportunity to influence the future
that—as he rightly points out—holds terrifying prospects without a change in
direction. Is he ready for this challenge? Perhaps, but first he would need to investigate
the assumptions underlying Fiction #3.

Fiction #3: Life
Is meaningless - It’s best to do nothing.

Yuval
Harari is a dedicated meditator, sitting for two hours a day to practice vipassana (insight)
meditation, which he learned from the celebrated teacher Goenka. Based on Goenka’s
tutelage, Harari offers his own version of the Buddha’s original teaching: “Life,”
he writes, “has no meaning, and people don’t need to create any meaning.” In
answer to the question as to what people should do, Harari summarizes his view
of the Buddha’s answer: “Do nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

As
a fellow meditator and admirer of Buddhist principles, I share Harari’s
conviction that Buddhist insight can help reduce suffering on many levels.
However, I am concerned that, in distilling the Buddha’s teaching to these
sound bites, Harari gives a philosophical justification to those who choose to
do nothing to avert the imminent humanitarian and ecological catastrophes
threatening our future.

The
statement that “life has no meaning” seems to arise more from the modern reductionist
ontology of physicist Steven
Weinberg than the mouth of the Buddha. To suggest that “people don’t need
to create any meaning” contradicts an evolved instinct of the human species. As
I describe in my
own book, The Patterning Instinct: A
Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning, human cognition drives
us to impose meaning into the universe, a process that’s substantially shaped
by the culture a person is born into. However, by recognizing the underlying
structures of meaning instilled in us by our own culture, we can become mindful
of our own patterns of thought, thus enabling us to reshape them for more
beneficial outcomes - a process I call “cultural mindfulness.”

There
are, in fact, other interpretations of the Buddha’s core teachings that lead to
very different distillations - ones that cry out “Do Something!” - inspiring meaningful
engagement in worldly activities. The principle of ‘dependent origination,’ for
example, emphasizes the intrinsic interdependence of all aspects of existence,
and forms the basis for the politically
engaged Buddhism of prominent monk and peace activist, Thích Nhất Hạnh.
Another essential Buddhist practice is metta, or
compassion meditation, which focuses on identifying with the suffering of
others, and resolving to devote one’s own life energies to reducing that
suffering. These are sources of meaning in life that are fundamentally consistent
with Buddhist principles.

Fiction #4:
Humanity’s future Is a spectator sport.

A
distinguishing characteristic of Harari’s writing, and one that may account for
much of his prodigious success, is his ability to transcend the preconceptions
of everyday life and offer a panoramic view of human history - as though he’s
orbiting the earth from ten thousand miles and transmitting what he sees. Through his meditation practice, Harari confides,
he has been able to “actually observe reality as it is,” which gave him the
focus and clear-sightedness to write Sapiens
and Homo Deus. He differentiates his
recent 21 Lessons for the 21st
Century from his first two books by declaring that, in contrast to their ten
thousand-mile Earth orbit, he will now “zoom in on the here and now.”

While
the content of his new book is definitely the messy present, Harari continues
to view the world as if through a scientist’s objective lens. However, Harari’s
understanding of science appears to be limited to the confines of Fiction #1 - “Nature
Is a Machine” - which requires complete detachment from whatever is being
studied. Acknowledging that his forecast for humanity “seems patently unjust,” he justifies his own moral detachment,
retorting that “this is a historical prediction, not a political
manifesto.”

In
recent decades, however, systems thinkers in multiple scientific disciplines have
transformed this notion of pristine scientific objectivity. Recognizing nature
as a dynamic, self-organized fractal complex of nonlinear systems, which can
only be truly understood in terms of how each part relates to each other and
the whole, they have shown how these principles apply, not just to the natural
world, but also our own human social systems. A crucial implication is that the
observer is part of what is being observed, with the result that the observer’s
conclusions and ensuing actions feed back into the system being investigated.

This
insight holds important ethical implications for approaching the great problems
facing humanity. Once you recognize that you are part of the system you’re
analyzing, this raises a moral imperative to act on your findings, and to raise
awareness of others regarding their own intrinsic responsibilities. The future
is not a spectator sport - in fact, every one of us is on the team and can make
a difference in the outcome. We can no longer afford any fictions - the stakes
have become too high.

For anyone
interested in exploring the issues raised in this article, I offer
sources here for further inquiry.

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